Man, this is such a good post... Johnny, what is your opinion on trying to learn on my bike, an 08+ R6 that has the god damn 10,000RPM Throttle opening... for me it is scary as hell, because I feel like I don't know what results I am going to get crossing that threshold, and I am too gutless to try and wheelie it over 10K.... Is this thing a total pain to learn on?? My buddy got it up in 2nd gear but it was short and weak looking, and he tried a couple times...
I should probably start off by telling you the first bike I owned was an 01 R6, and it was also the bike I learned wheelies on, and it was also the wheelies that caused me to write that bike off completely....LOL Probably one of the biggest mistakes in my motorcycling career, was making a single vechicle at fault claim on that bike after looping a wheelie on it...The rate increase from that doubled my insurance for the bike instantly, and stuck like that for a long time....Probably not the story you wanted to hear lol but its a good what if to think about
R6's have a very light front end, its one of the easier 600's to lift the front wheel on IMO...I never had an 08, but Ive ridden the 06+ also, and I never had any problems lifting the font wheels on them or my 01 R6 or my 03 R6 that I owned years ago....The low end on them sucks and it doesn't really start to make good power till around 8000rpm+, but the geometry made the front so light on those bikes its not hard at all to get them up...with clutching up once you get the technique down its a very easy bike to wheelie. I would clutch it up around 6000-8000 and your goal it to get it up and to balance fast to you stay around 8000-10,000rpm. When you get it up and the RPM climbs really fast its because you are not in the balance point or used too much RPM getting it up. A bike at balance point requires very little throttle to keep in a wheelie, an that is how you go far. Balance point = less throttle = less RPM climb = longer more controlled wheelies. The next stage after that technique is adding rear brake control, with that then you can not only balance point a wheelie for longer and smoother, but you will have the added ability to actually slow a wheelie down. Both speed and rpm, you will be able to wheelie into 10,000RPM/100Km/h+ and then using balance and rear brake able to drop both speed and RPM, and really control/play with the bike in wheelies
Run what ya brung unless you are willing to spend money on a specific bike to do wheelies or stunts. Just be aware that there is a very high likelihood of you tossing it down the road turning it into a pile of scrap metal and plastic. Its just like track riding people ask should I take my street bike? Would I? No not anymore, I have a bike set up for track that I only use for track, I have a street bike for street riding, and another bike setup for stunting. All the same brand/model, but all very different from each other ..My first time on track I took my street bike, put track fairings and some other track parts on it. However 4-5 tracks days and a race later and I crashed it. 2-3 times actually, had I kept the street bodywork and headlight on it I would have destroyed them. Basically I tried it and I liked it, so for me the right thing to do was get a dedicated bike. Same with stunting, I tied it, I liked it, so I built a dedicated bike for it...It works better when you have bike setup and purpose built for the task, with less worry of what can happen to it when something goes wrong....
You know I cant speak for everyone, I can only say what I think is best or what has worked for me, but I dont know what everyones riding budget is like. Some people just ride a bike and take transit in winter, so in that case Id suggest that person not practice wheelies on their only mode of transportation. Putting that at risk, as I always like to tell people "be ready for the crash" .....both mentally, psychically, and financially. because the chances are if you start doing wheelies, you will continue to do them, and sooner or later mistakes happen and bikes get damaged...So just be ready for what can and likely will happen if you stick with the wheelies
For more serious stunting the guys that spend the time and money to build and setup dedicated stunt bikes always go farther in terms of skills learned IMO. You know you always get these new guys that come out and say "Im gonna do that but with my street bike" "No cage, no big sprockets, etc etc"....Its a nice dream, but it usually doesnt work out that way. Its one thing to learn on a stuntbike and then do the same on a street bike, but rarely does it happen the other way around. A lot of times its just the mental block of "this is my only bike if I crash this I got nothing" holding them back.